He was released in 1995 after serving only 13 years. Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics The discovery, so far, has been more of a curse than a blessing for present-day investigators, who have spent years obtaining DNA samples from investigators, public health officials, scientists and medical professionals who came in contact with the poisoned Tylenol. In this op-ed, he reflects on his experiences leading the public health response to the Tylenol murders of 1982. The man hurriedly told the Hormel operator that he had to go and he would call her back later. Seven people between the ages of 12 and 35 years old died in 1982 after ingesting extra-strength Tylenol capsules that were found to have been laced with cyanide, a deadly chemical. Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. Thats just human nature. Investigators soon confirmed there was lethally poisonous cyanide inside the Tylenol capsules in question. The Tylenol case, however, would loom largest over his professional life. No one has ever been charged with the murders. The gelatin-based capsules were especially popular because they were slick and easy to swallow. We still receive tips that are being evaluated and investigated. They looked at accused shoplifters, including a man charged with attempting to steal 28 Tylenol bottles from a Wheaton pharmacy in August. Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner talks about the Tylenol deaths on Oct. 1, 1982. The police questioned him and searched his home, they turned up several interesting connections. Tylenol murders victims Among the victims there were three from the same family, as Adam Janus, aged 27 collapsed after ingesting extra-strength Tylenol and was rushed to the hospital where he died. He investigated the Tylenol poisonings in the Janus family and later served as police chief in Island Lake. This Oct. 18, 1982, column by Tribune columnist Bob Greene included specific details at the request of the FBI, such as the home address of Tylenol victim Mary Kellerman. In reality, some task force members still accuse their colleagues of secretive behavior 40 years later. J.J. Bittenbinder a tough-talking, mustachioed detective who would later gain fame as a TV safety expert served as a liaison to Fahners task force in Des Plaines. The arrests came as the result of an undercover FBI operation, and The Marquette 10 as the disgraced officers came to be known remain an enduring symbol of police corruption in Chicago. Please check your inbox to confirm. Hearing that threat, the detectives said, they banged on the door and announced themselves as police. A drugstore clerk removes Tylenol capsules from the shelves of a pharmacy Sept. 30, 1982, in New York City after reports of tampering. Several victims families told the Tribune they didnt hear much from investigators after those initial interviews. What the hell is this? So as we organized, there were about 10, 15 different avenues of investigations to pursue, like disgruntled employees, former employees, lawsuits, Lane said. Security cameras were scarce in suburban Chicago in 1982, but investigators checked the images that existed. Tylenols parent company, Johnson & Johnson, also saw its stock price drop after the news about the tainted capsules broke. What was my dads favorite color? Investigators express frustration, anger even. Later, Lewis was arrested,. Even after he retired from the FBI in 1996, he didnt let it go. Following the same theory, investigators took pictures of everyone who attended the victims funerals and set up time-lapse cameras at grave sites to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. But others, including Lane, found it immensely helpful and from his perspective ultimately accurate. Nothing was being solved.. Ford, a Vietnam veteran with a classic Chicago accent and an Irishmans love of storytelling, died of a heart attack a few days after speaking with the Tribune. The poisonings spanned multiple towns and two counties. In theory, the plan would prevent anyone from griping about being kept out of the loop. Among them was Lane, a well-respected federal agent who would help put away all kinds of criminals during his nearly 30-year career, including mob boss Sam Carlisi, former Illinois Gov. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune). It was standing room only inside the Arlington Heights Police Department for the first meeting of what would become the Tylenol task force. Members of the Illinois State Police join, as well. The more she . Oct. 2, 1982: CBS 2's Phil Walters reports on the investigation into the Tylenol poisonings. The task force questioned stock boys, managers, disgruntled former employees and problematic customers at the hot locations, the teams name for the stores that sold the tainted Tylenol. In the first year alone, the task force used it to track more than 35,000 individuals and 15,000 companies contacted as part of the investigation. (Stan Policht / Chicago Tribune). Before the 1982 crisis, Tylenol controlled more than 35 percent of the over-the-counter pain reliever market; only a few weeks after the murders, that number plummeted to less than 8 percent. That testing uncovered three more poisoned bottles: two turned in by customers in Wheaton and Chicago and one found on a Schaumburg pharmacy shelf. The Tribune interviewed nearly two dozen members of the task force, many of whom confirmed the reports veracity and added their own perspective. He couldnt leave. Roger Arnold worked at a jewel warehouse with the father of one of the victims named Mary Reiner. Michael Petros, DrPH Wednesday, September 29, 1982 at 6:30am CDT, the nightmare that was to be known as the "Tylenol Murders" began 1. Police departments and fire stations began collecting bottles, as well. Do not use it.. If Fahner had any chance of keeping his office in November, he had to build enthusiasm among conservative voters in the suburbs. I think hes nothing but a class act, said McQuaid, a retired state police captain. The decision cost the company more than $100 million, an enormous amount in 1982. The Tylenol Murders Victims Mary Kellerman On September 29, 1982, 12 year old Mary Kellerman woke up feeling ill. As a state crime, murder fell under the purview of local law enforcement. Tensions flared, even among law enforcement personnel sincerely dedicated to the job. It was 1982. Flight attendant Paula Prince bought a tainted bottle of Tylenol at the Walgreens at Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago. Authorities wont discuss the potential theories or suspects they have amid an investigation that they insist remains open and unforgotten. Thats because nobody was keeping track of who was buying cyanide, Wolnik said. Fahner stepped off the stage and ducked behind a blue velvet curtain, where a state police officer briefed him. The substance was grainier than the untainted Tylenol on the left. She also laments that her dad never got to meet her and her husband, her son, her stepson and her step-grandson. On that day, two unrelated things happened: A pub owner made a phone call to police, and an extortion letter arrived at a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Sadly, the tragedies that resulted from the Tylenol poisonings can never be undone. But no one has ever been arrested in connection with the spate of poisonings that shattered the families of Janus and the others. Investigators took pictures of people who attended the victims funerals to see if they could capture anyone acting unusual. Every night, I would come home after my kids were in bed, he said. He investigated the Tylenol poisonings in the Janus family and later served as police chief in Island Lake. Her parents gave permission. Conspiracy theories about motives and suspects for all these heinous acts continue to be bandied about on the Internet to this day. When the family returned home, both Adam's brother Stanley and Stanely's wife Theresa took a Tylenol, resulting in both of their deaths. Subscribe to our Science Newsletter to explore the Authorities already considered the womens deaths to be cyanide related by the time they contacted Fahner during his campaign event. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. In keeping with that theory, the task force contacted hospitals to ask about anyone treated for poison burns or symptoms, in case the killer became ill or injured during the spree. Eight of them would be three-member squads composed of a federal agent, a state investigator and a suburban detective from one of the towns where the victims lived or tainted bottles were discovered. Joe Murphy told NBC Chicago last year. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? The bottle's cap was easily opened. 6 Amazon travel essentials for your next getaway, starting at $12. The bottle's cap was easily opened. . Following the same theory, investigators took pictures . Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair told NBC News correspondent Kathy Park on TODAY Friday that a number of law enforcement sources close to the investigation have told her that Lewis is the only person currently described as a target of the investigation. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 1982. . Advances in technology have allowed investigators to determine the postmark date on the extortion letter written by Lewis that demands $1 million be wired to a bank account "if you want to stop the killing," according to the Chicago Tribune's review of the documents. Ford and his partner Jimmy Gildea both said they tried to stop him because evidence technicians hadnt been to the scene yet, but Stein brushed off their concerns. He is the director of the Center for the History of Medicine and the George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and the author ofThe Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick and the Discovery of DNAs Double Helix (W.W. Norton, September 21). Kasia said she still remembers hearing her mother scream when she couldnt wake her father up the next day, 29 September 1982. I thought he was perfect.. John Fellmann, whose last name was misspelled on his ID from 1980, was a young Arlington Heights police detective when he was assigned to the Tylenol murders. What happens in most cases, and certainly what happened here beyond any question, was a 100% selfless, unified devotion to a very important mission.. Three months earlier, 10 Chicago officers from the citys West Side were convicted of taking bribes to protect heroin rings. All Rights Reserved. But on Oct. 1, 1982, he had been a detective for only a year. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. The Tylenol Murders In 1982, seven innocent Chicago civilians were boldly murdered. Several people had died within the last day in the Chicago suburbs after ingesting Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide and the situation needed attention. He told her no, then carried the memory of the Kellermans anguish with him for the rest of his time on the task force. The agents didnt bother to pretend that labeling rules were their true motivation for getting involved. Medicare Pharmacy employee Mary Butler, right, shows a box of Extra-Strength Tylenol to Officer Michael Miljan in Arlington Heights. Working with FDA officials, they introduced a new tamper-proof packaging, which included foil seals and other features that made it obvious to a consumer if foul play had transpired. An FBI agent stood up and started to give a rundown of Chicagos case. In all, the task force had only eight bottles to offer clues to where and when the tampering could have taken place. The Illinois State Police told NBC News the investigation remains ongoing. We were looking for somebody that really looked like they didnt belong. There, research chemist Karen Wolnik and her colleagues established a trace element pattern a sort of chemical fingerprint for each sample to determine whether it was identical to the poison used in the Tylenol killings. Pero quin fue el asesino? These packaging protections soon became the industry standard for all over-the-counter medications. Fahner ordered his staff to work through the night, calling local police, sheriffs, coroners, the FBI, the FDA, prosecutors and public health officials. It sounds like an urban legend, but it was chillingly real in 1982. It was so Dick Tracy to me, Steed said. The publication reported this week that it has obtained video and thousands of documents outlining law enforcement's current case and a possible motive for the killings. Chicagos doing what they want, so lets just give them something minor to do.. The bottles traveled to various warehouses, including a final storage stop at a Jewel facility in suburban Franklin Park, before being delivered to different grocery stores on different days before the poisonings. Dr. Howard Markel. He also would have a history of animal cruelty, Lane told the Tribune. Product tampering would become a crime in 1983 as a result of these murders, but in 1982 there was no federal law against it. Studies have found women who kill use poison more often than men do, but they typically target people they know. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune). The Kellerman and Janus bottles contained Tylenol from lot MC2880, manufactured in Pennsylvania on April 26, 1982. Marquette 10 is one of a thousand reasons why theres tension, personal jealousy, personal ambition, jurisdictional turf fights. While I was not born yet and don't personally remember the Chicago Tylenol Murders of 1982, I do feel like I have experienced some of the anxiety that has never gone away. Stacy has a journalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, with minors in American politics and Spanish. The lot numbers for the McFarland, Reiner and Prince bottles indicated they were manufactured in Round Rock, Texas, and went to different warehouses in the Chicago area before ending up on store shelves. What are the Tylenol murders? Chemists working for the Illinois Public Health Department in Chicago test the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. The dire situation, both in terms of human life and business, made it imperative that the Johnson & Johnson executives respond swiftly and authoritatively. I realized I was in the deep end of the pool, he said. That same day, a 27-year-old postal worker named Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, died of what was initially thought to be a massive heart attack but turned out to be cyanide poisoning as well. Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide that were sold in the Chicago suburbs were linked to the deaths of seven people, leading to a nationwide panic that had the Food and Drug Administration advising consumers across the country to stop taking Tylenol products. If you are curious, come to a small house on a quiet, winding street in Elk Grove Village. Prince was officially declared dead by the Medical Examiner's office at 6:45 p.m. Investigators discovered a bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol in her bathroom with one capsule missing and a. The Tylenol murders of 1982,was a pointless killing spree that resulted in the death of seven Chicago area people from Tylenol tablets .The Tylenol poisoning killings was from tampering with over-the-counter Tylenol branded acetaminophen pills laced with potassium cyanide. Police departments were working the murders in relative isolation, and each county had its own states attorney to oversee the case. (Earl Gustie / Chicago Tribune). Neither did the chemist who performed the cyanide test. Here, he offers a Spanish-language flyer to Luisa Acevada. Now Fahner had to win the job for himself, and he faced a formidable opponent in Democrat Neil Hartigan, a vote magnet from Chicagos North Side. 40 years later, Kasia Janus is sharing. Lewis, who now lives in the Boston area, has long denied any involvement in the murders and has never been charged. Finally, in late July, officials from both Cook and DuPage gather for a video conference. It is something that altered the life of every person in the world, Janus, who had never before spoken publicly about her ordeal, told CNN. A long-planned meeting with DuPage prosecutors also was pushed back in the spring. Former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner stands on the former site of the Tylenol task force headquarters in Des Plaines, now an empty parking lot. It didnt take long for the Tylenol murders to become national news. As a result of the crime, makers of Tylenol developed new product protection methods. In an attempt to paint a more detailed portrait of the killer, the FBI turned to a relatively new technique at the time called criminal profiling, in which agents try to identify the personality and behavioral characteristics of an offender based on an analysis of the crime. The FBI put about three dozen agents on the case, under the premise that the agency needed to determine whether Johnson & Johnson had violated federal law by failing to list potassium cyanide among the active ingredients in Tylenol. She also told CNN she had invited many people to a memorial service and celebration of life luncheon honoring her father in hopes that shed learn things she never got the chance to because of the murder. Some expressed surprise at how casually other people treated the poisoned bottles. (Chicago Tribune archive). The guy was a little wimpy, but his ham did stink.. Several months have passed since the suburban detective made his pitch to the Cook County states attorneys office. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million Tylenol bottles as panic spread nationwide following the deaths. So whatever fits or doesnt fit the storyline, that didnt happen. Tamper-resistant pill containers were introduced with packaging that allows consumers to notice if a bottle of pills or medication has been opened or altered. And wherever they fell on the issue, that position hasnt changed much over the past four decades. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. We had gloves in our car and basically used them on decomposed bodies. Siekmann, who had been working since 8 a.m., believed some capsules were tainted from the first time he laid eyes on them. Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called "Mad Poisoner." And we were able to analyze the cyanide and show that it was not the same (cyanide at the plant) as cyanide in the capsules., Lab technicians Nlada Marzette, left, and Lynn Pilaggi inspect the contents of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules for cyanide contamination at the Illinois Department of Public Health in 1982. Someone, police hypothesized, must have taken bottles off the shelves of local grocers and drug stores in the Chicago area, laced the capsules with poison, and then returned the restored packages to the shelves to be purchased by the unknowing victims. But something more sinister was afoot when Kasias paternal uncle Stanley Janus and his wife, Theresa Tarasewicz Janus, each took pills from the same Tylenol bottle that Adam had bought in an attempt to fight headaches. His brother and sister-in-law, Stanley, 25, and Theresa, 19, of Lisle, Illinois, rushed to his home to console their loved ones. Im absolutely sure about that. Former DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann, who in 1982 was a deputy coroner, handled the Tylenol bottles from Mary "Lynn" Reiner and Mary McFarland. This Oct. 18, 1982, column by Tribune columnist Bob Greene included specific details at the request of the FBI, such as the home address of Tylenol victim Mary Kellerman. Ford and Gildea arrived at the campus with hopes of a break in the case, only to find out the so-called professor was a high school boy pretending to work at UIC so he could pick up college girls. The 50-count bottle, which the woman told police she purchased at Franks Finer Foods in Wheaton, contained seven capsules filled with potassium cyanide, records show. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune), John Fellmann at his home in Huntley in September. FBI agent Shari Kouba, one of the few women on the task force, ran the tips desk. What was he like in school? The Tylenol Murders" and asked him if he has any theories on who the Tylenol Killer might be. It wasnt a grab for authority. Paramedics came and took Adam Janus to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead from what they suspected may have been a heart attack. Two main suspects in this unsolved case are James Lewis and Roger Arnold, who had both been linked to this occurrence in some way. Their departments relationship with the FBI had been rocky for decades, but it was at a particularly low point in September 1982. In 2010, DuPage County prosecutors filed a sealed affidavit stating investigators had found DNA on three bottles and the capsules inside, according to documents obtained by the Tribune. They also started grumbling about politics overshadowing their work. Employees of the Chicago City Health Department continue to test Tylenol medication for the presence of deadly cyanide at the Department's lab on Oct. 7, 1982. At first, the story focused in the Chicago/Cook County . I was the detective at the scene. Beginning on Sept. 29, 1982, and over the next week, seven people were murdered in the Chicago area after unknowingly taking Tylenol pills that were spiked by a killer. (Fred Jewell/AP). The first few days were spent talking to people closest to Prince and sifting through the many tips they received. Former Chicago police Detective Jimmy Gildea, shown at his Chicago home in July, investigated the death of Tylenol victim Paula Prince. But I didnt have the gray hair yet.. And then there are agents who dont. CBS put a human face on the story which contained the following: "When 12 year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village, Ill., awoke at dawn with cold symptoms; her parents gave her one Extra-Strength Tylenol and sent her back to bed. But she said years of therapy and yoga have helped her overcome her anger and guilt, and shes hopeful there will be justice in the killings of her father as well as her aunt and uncle. Jose Rosa, right, was one of hundreds of Chicago city employees and volunteers to distribute warnings about cyanide-laced Tylenol in fall 1982. Seven people in the Chicago area were killed that year by Tylenol that had been poisoned with potassium cyanide. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune). Shari Kouba, shown in July at an FBI office in Mount Prospect where she used to work, ran a tips desk as part of the Tylenol task force. These other men were all worried about his chances. He has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing news stories and features across the trending, pop culture, sports, parents, pets, health, style, food and TMRW verticals. I mean, it just got to me, Severns said. And Fahner wasnt the only source of tensions. DNA evidence wasnt part of police work at the time, but it would become a factor in the case a quarter-century later. They were particularly concerned that something happened during the manufacturing or the shipping or storage, Wolnik said. Former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner stands on the former site of the Tylenol task force headquarters in Des Plaines, now an empty parking lot. Over the next several months, Fahners task force would do groundbreaking police work, generate 19,000 pages of investigative reports, be accused of playing politics and, ultimately, fail to hold anyone accountable for the murders. There was little evidence to go on, no inkling of a motive and five people dead. Retired FBI agent Roy Lane Jr., shown in August, is the only member of law enforcement who has been part of the Tylenol investigation in its entirety. With Molly Jean Brandenburg, Carter Roy. The likelihood that the same person could have put cyanide into different batches manufactured at different times in different places was logistically zero.. 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